Funeral Sermons [Leichenpredigten]

Funeral sermons include remarks (eulogies) made by ministers regarding the life of a deceased person. In Germany, these sermons were often collected and published. The middle and wealthier classes were more likely to have sermons for their dead, but sermons can occasionally be found for farmers, printers, or soldiers. Protestants started the practice and made the most funeral sermons, but Catholic priests also followed the custom.

Published funeral sermons were most popular from about 1550 to about 1750. They usually contain information such as names, dates, places, relatives, life histories, and sometimes pedigrees for many generations. Eulogies are subject to error because the information was given by relatives who did not always remember facts accurately.

If you find a phrase like “with sermon” [“mit Predigt”] in a burial record, check for a published funeral sermon. If you suspect a funeral sermon was given for one of your ancestors, you can contact archives in the area where you ancestor was buried, asking for help finding the sermon. Published abstracts are often available. Two helpful lists of funeral sermon collections and indexes are listed below:

Wentscher, Erich, and Hermann Mitgau. Einführung in die praktische Genealogie (4. Aufl.) (Introduction to practical genealogy [4th ed.]). Limburg/Lahn: C. A. Starke, 1966. (FHL book 943 B4gg v.1; computer number 251242.) See pages 92 to 93 of the book.

Jensen, Larry O. “Leichenpredigten (Funeral sermons).” German Genealogical Digest 8 (Fourth Quarter 1992): 119-24. (FHL book 943 B2g; computer number 366089.)

The following source indexes abstracts of over 40,000 funeral sermons:

Katalog der fürstlich Stolberg- Stolberg'schen Leichenpredigten-Sammlung (Catalog of the funeral sermon collection from principality of Stolberg). Leipzig: Degener, 1927-1935. (FHL book 943 B4b v.2; films 477802-4; computer number 247094.)

Funeral sermon abstracts available in the Family History Library are listed in the Locality Search of the catalog under:

GERMANY - OBITUARIESGERMANY, [STATE] - OBITUARIESGERMANY, [STATE], [TOWN] - OBITUARIES